The Levada Shawl

I don't always know why I make what I do.  

Sometimes the catalyst is beautiful yarn and other times, the pattern is the clincher. 

When I decided to knit the Op-Art Shawl*, (which is a free pattern from Blacker Yarns designed by Sonja Bargielowska) I believe it was a fusion of subliminal factors bringing together special skeins and the perfect pattern imbued with happy holiday memories.

In April this year, Geoff and I went on a walking holiday to Madeira to celebrate our silver wedding.  Madeira's an autonomous region of Portugal though it's over 500 miles from Lisbon and directly west of Morocco in the Atlantic.  We both love Portugal and aren't sit-on-the-beach types, so a bit of a hike each day whilst being pampered in luxury hotels was a combination which suited us both!

As well as walking, we had a hurl on the famous Madeira toboggan in the capital, Funchal!

Blues and greens suffuse the landscape and Portuguese influences are evident throughout the island.

Greenery abounds in the lush forest-clad mountains.  Natural waterfalls and man-made water channels create ever-moist habitats, encouraging abundant plant life and ferny foliage.

Levadas are the sinuous water channels created to irrigate the drier more populous south of Madeira from the wetter north of this mountainous island.  Originally hewn precariously by hand as long ago as the 15th century, some levadas were made as recently as the 1940's.  Still providing essential water supply, and now hydroelectric power, they create a network of breathtaking paths for walkers.  A head for heights certainly helps!



Can you see where this is leading?



My stitches echo the winding levada paths.

And the colours of my wool evoke the beautiful landscape of Madeira.  I began with a deep turquoisey blue from Ripples Crafts, hand dyed by my friend Helen.

Helen and her special anniversary edition Cochrane yarn

I required lots of green so incorporated two colours from Caroline, my knitting buddy, who spun and dyed the gorgeous shades on the left and gifted them to me at Christmas.  The vibrant emerald skein on the right came from local yarn shop Baa in Stonehaven where lovely Lindsay (pictured below with a basket of her gorgeous handspun) sells her yarn and handknits in aid of cancer charities.

I still wanted more green and met up with Tania at Aberdeen Yarn Fest in June and chose her Shorelines and Strata yarn to add to the shawl.

I held Lindsay's emerald merino together with a strand of Helen's Ripples Crafts Laceweight  to enhance the widest edge. 

 

So my knitting begins and ends with ripples of stitches from Ripples Crafts - what could be more appropriate for a shawl evocative of the rippling levadas of Madeira?

 
Ah, happy times!

* The Op Art Shawl from Blacker Yarns plays with perspective in simple shapes like the art movement from the 1960's. It's a large asymmetric triangle ideal for wrapping around yourself, complete with classic old shale lace patterning, short rows to create a shape within a shape and an elegant i-cord edge.